Let It Go
by Mysterious Prophetess
Summary: Post Dark of the Moon. Contains spoilers for the movie. Optimus Prime has trouble saying good bye to a fallen comrade after the dust has settled from the final battle. Read and Review.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Transformers, Hasbro does. Though, I wish I had a Camaro. The lyrics to Iridescent belong to Linkin Park (though I only borrowed one for the title).

What I do own is an Optimus Primal action figure (well I had one but I haven't seen it in years).

**MP**: This is my first foray into this fandom, here's hoping I don't crash and burn.

I just saw _Dark of the Moon_. I have mixed feelings about it. I personally think they could have split the movie up into two different ones and that would have fixed the pace right there. It did drag in certain sections (mostly the human oriented ones).

For those who haven't yet seen _Dark of the Moon_, I suggest you click out of this one shot now. I'm heading into spoiler territory with this fic and my next statement (though no specifics are mentioned.) Again, spoilers abound in this fic. You have been warned.

Because of a certain character's death I've decided to write this one shot. I like to pretend that Optimus is going to bring him back with his Matrix in spite of what this story suggests.

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><p><strong>Let It Go<strong>

Clean up from the hostile takeover staged by Megatron and Sentinel Prime was ongoing. Chicago would never be the same after that day. Dylan, barely alive after colliding with the pillar was arrested for war crimes by Colonel Lennox assisted by Epps, Retired Master Sargent. Also in the cleanup process was Washington D.C., though Congress was trying to cover its collective asses for almost handing the world over on a silver platter to Sentinel Prime, Megatron, and the Decepticons by trying to exile the Autobots. The American people weren't buying it; Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, they knew who was to blame.

Amidst all of this was Nest's temporary Head Quarters: An airplane hangar in Ronald Regan National Airport.

"Hold still you impatient bucket of bolts!"

A green-yellow and black robot was tending to his red and blue leader. Though his leader was taller, the medic was more imposing whenever repair work was needed to be done. At current, the CMO was reattaching the Autobot Commander's right arm. Around the hanger were others in need of repairs though, none of them were missing a limb like their leader was. Brains and Wheelie were found in the crashed husk of a Deception ship. Surprisingly, the cassettes were still alive. But Brains was badly damaged. Also in the hanger were the Autobot casualties. Wheeljack(or Que he answered to both) was, mostly, still in one piece then there was what was left of Ironhide.

Shot in the back by Sentinel Prime, and then finished off by the Autobot traitor, Irohnhide's form corroded when his spark was extinguished. Wheeljack, after some repairs, might be able to be brought back to life with the Matrix. As for Ironhide, there didn't seem to be any hope for returning the weapon's expert back to life.

Optimus assisted in moving debris after Ratchet cleared him for 'light duty' which translated to 'No Fighting.' With the destruction of most of the Decepticons and Cybertron in that last battle such an order seemed unnecessary.

"Optimus," said a voice. The mech looked down to see Sam and his girlfriend Carly were at his feet.

"Hello Sam, Carly. I trust you are well," said Optimus bending down to eye level.

"Excellent. But how are you doing, you lost your arm in that battle," Sam said pointing to the reattached appendage.

"I am fine, Sam. Ratchet is a more than capable medic," Optimus said smiling moving his arm demonstrating that it was reattached and had a full range of motions.

"Come along Sam, we need to get going," Carly said tugging her boyfriend away.

"Well, see ya, big guy!" Sam said as he let Carly tug him away. The car they had, this time, was a yellow 1959 Camaro (restored), that was NOT secretly a Decepticon, given to Sam as a 'make goods' by Hotchkiss Gould Investments after it turned out their CEO sold out the human race, kidnapped Sam's girlfriend, and tried to kill Sam. Though most of the board was also taken in to custody as were the surviving collaborators.

Later, that night, all the other Autobots were already in recharge leaving the stoic leader as the last awake.

"My oldest friend, I'm sorry I failed you," Optimus said to the corroded remains of Ironhide. He could almost hear the gruff voice of his friend say,

'_Now don't blame yah're self Prahm. Yah couldn't have known Sentinel was a fragging traitor_.'

"But I should have been able to stop him," Optimus said.

'_Yah're not Primus, Optimus! This just proves yah're a mech, like the rest of us_' Ironhide would have said, '_Don't yah worry about me. I took out my fair share of Decepticon punks before the end. Let it go, Optimus_.'

"Let it go," Ratchet said making the Prime jump to face his other old friend, "He was my friend too, irritatingly stubborn though he was. One of the only old timers like myself left. Ironhide wouldn't want you brooding over his death."

Optimus remained silent as Ratchet moved away from the younger mech towards the exit of the hanger. Optimus gazed at the corroded parts for a while longer and placed a hand on what was left of the head before he straightened up, heading towards the hanger exit. He could have sworn he heard Ironhide say,

'_Good Bye, Prahm_,' Just as he reached the door. Optimus paused momentarily as he exited,

"Good Bye, Ironhide. Rest in Peace, Old Friend."

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><p><strong>MP<strong>: Well there you have it.

If things are OOC, all I can do is plead ignorance:

Most of my knowledge comes from these movies, Wikipedia, fanfiction writers, Beast Wars (which is hazy from years of separation between seeing them and now), a couple of the Transformer's G1 episodes, and some Transformers Armada.

Read and Review. Constructive Criticism is welcomed as that can help improve what you see.


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